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Published: April 29th 2008
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Today was at a much more leisurely pace than yesterday. Breakfast was complimentary through the hotel and included 4 types of onigiri, rice balls, miso soup and drink. Mom and Dad were up early and walked around the Asaichi Morning Market. I hear they saw giant crabs and got some apples and bananas. I was still sleeping at this time. Jet lag is always such a joy.
After I got up we headed out to find the Foreigners Cemetery. We had a bit of a miss adventure getting to the bus. The bus worker told me that the stop was close to the KFC but Dad said that we just needed to find this blue x on his map and that would take us to where we needed to be. Well, what Dad thought was the stop was really telling where the koban, or police box was. We ended up walking around a bit until we got to the stop we needed. I ended up asking some people if it was going to Koryuji temple. After a bit of a wait we were on our way. We had gotten a day pass for 1000 yen from the station. It ended
up being a good decision.
We got to Koryuji, though, it didn't seem to be open. We took some pictures and then headed up to the cemetery. I was expecting a lot more then what was there but it was really interesting. There were separate Chinese, Russian, and English cemeteries. The English cemetery included 2 crew men from Perry's ship. The only one you could walk around in was the Chinese cemetery. All of them are hugging the side of a hill and have a beautiful view of the harbor. Very nice little area.
After the cemetery we headed to the Old Hakodate Ward building by taxi. The Old Ward building is a true Meji era construction. It's blue and yellow in a very English lord house type of way. You can go around the house, upper and lower, for 300 yen. You get some slippers and just walk around to your leisure. Some of the signs are in English but the house and the view it offers are a great reason to go there. It is on one of the slopes; which are lined with some older houses and churches. Very picture pretty.
We headed back
toward the hotel for lunch. Right next door was a restaurant that Dad and I saw the night before, so we dropped in and had a great time. I chatted with the chief and translated for Mom and Dad. The food was great and the chief was really fun. We even got a picture with him and everything. There was a little confusion on how to eat certain things but we made it through pretty well.
After lunch Dad and I ventured out to Cape Tachimachi. The street cars drop you off about 1000m away and we just hiked up the rest of the way. The way passed through another cemetery and then we were at the cape. It is really beautiful up there. Far enough away from the rest of Hakodate. There were paths down to the rocks and Dad and I spent some time climbing around on them and just sitting and enjoying the view. In the distance we could see a faint outline of another island or maybe Honshu. I could tell from the plaque what it was suppose to be out there. We hiked it back toward the tram station, stopping along the way at
a lane lined with cherry trees that lead up to a small shrine. We stopped into a small store that was selling soft serve for only 100 yen for a cone!! It was so good but also so cheap!! A perfect treat for the long hike we had.
We headed back to the hotel but not before stopping and getting some cheese, crackers, and then a drink from the omiyage and 711 respectively. We have been hanging out in the hotel and enjoying the free dinner service at the toyoko. Tomorrow we are off to Sapporo.
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Lebdawho
Kathryn Lebda
Quaking good time
LebdaWhen here - what a great tour guide Kathryn has become! We have enjoyed every second of our adventure - even the 5.8 earth quake Tuesday afternoon - my head still thinks the floor is rocking & rolling. On to Sapporo today visiting the brewery.